Issues

Stage Details

Legislation -
Bill Passed
(House)
(235-168) -
Feb. 26, 2010(Key vote)

Vote Result

Yea Votes

Nay Votes

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes appropriations to the Intelligence Community.

Highlights:

Authorizes appropriations specified in the classified Schedule of Authorizations, a document made available to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the President, to the following agencies (Sec. 101, 102):

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence;

The Central Intelligence Agency;

The Department of Defense;

The Defense Intelligence Agency;

The National Security Agency;

The Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force;

The Coast Guard;

The Department of State;

The Department of the Treasury;

The Department of Energy;

The Department of Justice;

The Federal Bureau of Investigation;

The Drug Enforcement Administration;

The National Reconnaissance Office;

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and

The Department of Homeland Security.

Appropriates $672.81 million for the Intelligence Community Management Account (Sec. 104).

Prohibits the authorization of any "Congressional earmarks", defined as a specific amount of discretionary spending for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure targeted to a specific state, locality, or Congressional district (Sec. 105).

Authorizes an increase in appropriations for salary, pay, retirement, and other benefits as necessary (Sec. 301).

Authorizes the Director of National Intelligence to carry out a grant program designed to increase ethnic and cultural diversity within the intelligence community (Sec. 312).

Authorizes $2 million in appropriations to establish a five-year pilot program for intensive African language instruction (Sec. 314).

Requires the President to provide all information necessary for the Congressional intelligence committees to assess the lawfulness, effectiveness, cost, benefit, intelligence gain, budgetary authority, and risk of an intelligence activity, not limited to the following (Sec. 321):

The legality of the intelligence activity, including any legal issues upon which guidance was sought in the activity's planning and implementation, as well as any dissenting legal views;

Specific operational concerns, including the risk of disclosing intelligence sources or methods;

The likelihood that the intelligence activity will exceed authorized expenditures; and

The likelihood that the intelligence activity will fail.

Establishes the Office of Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, a position appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, whose purpose is as follows (Sec. 406):

To be an independent and objective office, accountable to Congress;

To conduct investigations, inspections, and audits on matters controlled by the Director of National Intelligence;

Recommend administrative policies and detect fraud on matters controlled by the Director of National Intelligence;

To keep the Director of National Intelligence and Congressional intelligence committees informed on the Office's problems, deficiencies, and the need for corrective actions; and

To serve as the Chair to the Intelligence Community Inspectors General Forum.

Prohibits the use of private contractors to interrogate suspects detained by the Central Intelligence Agency, unless there is no one within the CIA capable or available to conduct the interrogation, and requires all interrogations to be video recorded (Sec. 412, 416).

Repeals the authority of the National Counterintelligence Executive to enter into any contract, lease, cooperative agreement, or any other transaction the Executive considers appropriate to carry out the functions of that office (Sec. 423).

Specifies that no appropriations shall be used to provide suspected terrorists and detainees who are not United States citizens with Miranda rights (Sec. 504).